Let the Right One In — the gorgeously bleak 2008 Swedish movie based on the 2004 Swedish horror novel — is remembered fondly for its unique vampire story, exploring the grim but loving relationship between a girl who thirsts for blood and the man who acts as her protector and prey-snatcher. The Showtime series based on the same story, however, has not proven to be as memorable.
Deadline reports that Showtime has cancelled the series after just one season, which streamed its 10th and final episode just over a month ago. The trade chalks this up to the impending integration of Showtime into Paramount+ ahead of a rebranding as “Paramount+ with Showtime,” and the reason for active scrutiny of its current programming. Deadline notes the show “has been shopped to other platforms by Tomorrow Studios,” but also reminds us how long it took for this adaptation to finally heave itself onto the airwaves: “the series originally was set up at A&E and A+E Studios in 2015 and then moved to TNT, where a pilot was ordered and cast but did not go to production.”
Showtime’s version premiered October 9 and starred Demián Bichir (The Nun, Godzilla vs. Kong) and Madison Taylor Baez as the family with a gruesome secret, as well as Anika Noni Rose (The Princess and the Frog) and Grace Gummer (Mr. Robot). It’s unfortunate that after nearly a decade, the series adaptation wasn’t able to make it past one season — but think of it this way: Let the Right One in fans still got that entire season, plus the award-winning original movie, plus John Ajvide Lindqvist’s best-selling book, and the surprisingly strong 2010 American remake, Let Me In (directed by The Batman’s Matt Reeves) to boot. And according to Deadline, there’s still a chance the series might get revived yet again if another platform decides to, ah, take a bite.
While you’re here, why not check out Gizmodo Australia’s guide to what’s streaming this month on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Stan, Binge and more. We’ve also got one for all the good movies coming out in 2023 if that’s more your thing.